Tuesday, April 21, 2009

The topics of the press conference were mainly two: the aftermath of Saturday’s match against Inter and the decisive match against Lazio which could open the doors to the Coppa Italia final.

Three days after the match against the nerazzurri there is still much to talk about, especially after the decision by the sport authorities to close the Olimpico’s doors to supporters during the match against Lecce on the 3rd of May. The coach expressed his thoughts:

"I don’t think that this sanction is just. There must be reiteration and this is the first time that such things happened. The behaviour was wrong and unfortunately it is something that we Italians carry with us. I understand Balotelli and I am sorry for him. I repeat, this beahaviour should be stigmatized. I am for the chants in favour of the team but not for those “against” that do not help the men on the field. If I had to hear such chants again I would signal the captain to make them stop".

However, before the match without supporters against Lecce, about which we must wait for the outcome of the appeal made by the club, there is another match to be played at the Olimpico and one as important as the one on Saturday against Inter. Tomorrow night the bianconeri will be hosting Lazio in the return match of the semi-final of the Coppa Italia. The bianconeri must turn around the 2-1 defeat suffered in Rome on the 3rd of March. The mission is not an impossible one but it is made more difficult by the good moment which Lazio are going through:

"We will be playing against a team which fully-charged – confirmed the coach – and which this year had some great performances. They came from 3 defeats in a row but won the derby and the match against Genoa managing to play the match which we failed to the week before. It will definitely be a very difficult and hard-fought match".

Apart from the condition of the rivals, Juventus will descend on the field determined to reach the objective. The Coppa Italia is a trophy which they want to win especially to reach the 10th title.

"We are very much into this match. We really want to reach the final because this trophy is an objective we want to reach. There will not be Chiellini and I prefer Amauri to continue working. In order to decide about the line-up I must consider many factors including who has problems, who is more charged-up and who is fresher".